Hello! I am from the US teaching in S Korea and I want to go to China while I am here! I have been reading that you need to have at least 6 months left on your visa to apply for a China visa here...
but......
I will have just less than 6 months on my VISA when I want to travel...
however....
I will have more than 6 months left on my ARC card....

will that be sufficient?

One final question... does the 6 months remaining count at the date of your arrival into China? Or at the time in which you apply?

Thank you so much!

6 months remaining on your ARC at the time of your visa application (NOT 6 months remaining when you enter into China).

AFTER you get the visa to China is has a shelf life of 90 days (you must enter China within 90 days or the visa will expire). Your ARC validity has no relevance at that point.

The Transit visas (72 hour stay) for Beijing and Shanghai state clearly that you must enter from one destination and exit to another (are in transit).

You cannot use a return ticket (ICN - PEK- ICN) and cannot leave the vicinity of the city (you can't enter in Beijing, travel to Shanghai and then fly back to ICN .

.

wait... can you set what date you want to visa to start? I want to go there near the end of my contract, which would be after 90 days since I need to apply at least six months ahead of my ARC expiring...

Actually you don't need to combine any tickets. You can buy a one-way ticket from Korea to Beijing and another one-way ticket from Beijing to Hong Kong.

You can still get the 72 hour transit free visa in this situation. All you have to do is to show them that you have a ticket leaving from Beijing to Hong Kong within 72 hours of landing in Beijing. This is still considered a layover. They don't have to be on the same ticket.